Science and Faith - The Script

Christian wasn't the smartest on his team by any stretch of the imagination, but he'd hung around Tobias and Keith long enough to learn a thing or two about science. Whenever an emergency evacuation order came down, most men drew their guns and laid down cover. Unfortunately for Christian, he had no gun - just his wits and his smile.

"Phenylethylamine, dopamine, and oxytocin," he said.

Leighanne blinked. "What?"

"Love," Christian said. "It's three chemicals that your body produces in reaction to another person - or eating chocolate or skydiving, depending on your preferences."

"Are you saying you don't believe in love?" Leighanne looked both surprised and hurt by his declaration, but He saw the subtle slump of her shoulders, her disconsolate sigh. So she'd sensed he was distant, and she was right about the distance if not the cause. She thought he didn't love her anymore. He'd never loved her at all.

"I realize I come with a country drawl and I like Jim Carrey movies, but when push comes to shove, I'm a rational person. I understand science, and I know that science, unlike emotions, produces quantifiable results." Christian hated Brian's country drawl, but if he played his cards right he would never have to use it again. "I prefer to make decisions based on quantifiable results rather than the whims of emotions, which are chemical projections anyway."

Leighanne stared down at her hands for a long moment, then up at him. "What are you saying?"

"After four years the body becomes accustomed to the chemicals that flood the brain and attraction wanes. There's no way to counteract the body's acclimation," Christian said. Tobias would have been proud.

"We've been married for four years," Leighanne said.

Christian nodded.

"And you want to throw it away on the whims of chemistry?" There was anger in her voice. Good. When Christian was done breaking her heart, she would never speak to him again, and he could work without fear of reprisal. Christian wondered if this was how Asia had done it all those times, framed the breaking of a human heart in terms of priority and mission efficiency. He wondered if she was pleased at her success. He knew he would succeed, and already he disliked the situation immensely.

Disliked the situation immensely. He'd been around Asia for far too long.

"I think you're lying, that something else is going on here," Leighanne said. "But if you're telling the truth, there's something I have to say before you go."

Christian reached for the bag he'd packed. "Speak your piece."

"You can break everything down to chemicals, but you can't explain a love like ours. You love me, and I love you, and even if it defies rationality or explanation, it's true, and it always will be."

Christian nodded. He wouldn't tell her that their love never was, and it could all be explained by a slip of paper that landed on his desk one day titled "orders".

(497 words)